CHANDIGARH: Six people, including four women, have been booked by the Himachal Pradesh Police for preventing devotees from offering prayers at the Sanjauli mosque in Shimla, which had earlier been declared "illegal" by a local court.
Sources said the incident occurred on Friday when several people from other states were headed to the mosque to offer prayers (namaz). This reportedly did not go down well with sections of the local population, following which the accused, associated with the Devbhoomi Sangharsh Samiti, gathered at the spot and stopped them.
They prevented the devotees from entering the mosque, claiming that the structure had been declared illegal by the court and, therefore, “offering namaz should not be permitted.”
Police personnel arrived at the spot to resolve the issue; however, the accused continued to oppose the devotees. Officers said they raised slogans while asking Muslims to show their IDs and questioned “how they could offer prayers in a mosque that was declared illegal and ordered to be demolished.”
The women stated that they would not allow Muslims to pass by their houses, claiming that they “peered inside their homes.” A video of the incident went viral on social media. Some locals also stopped the visiting crowd from offering prayers and sent them back.
Taking cognisance of the issue, the police booked the accused for disturbing communal harmony and law and order, adding that further investigation is underway.
After the incident, the Samiti submitted a letter to the office of a senior police officer in Shimla, demanding restrictions on the increasing number of people coming to the site for namaz, asserting that “their identities cannot be ascertained.” It also requested that electricity and water connections to the mosque be cut off, as it had been declared "illegal" by the court.